This invention relates to a unique apparatus for applying chemicals to plants such as crops and weeds.
The invention also relates to a unique method of using the apparatus.
While the apparatus can be used to apply virtually any type of chemical or liquid to plants, the method and apparatus of this invention have particular utility for the application of a herbicide to weeds in a field which have grown higher than the crop.
Non-selective herbicides are presently available which can kill virtually any plant simply by applying a very small amount of the herbicide to a small area of follage of the plant. Such herbicides are used extensively to kill undesirable vegetation such as weeds or Johnson grass which have grown to a height greater than the desirable cultivated crop, such as cotton.
One commercially used technique for applying such a non-selective herbicide to weeds taller than the crop, is a spray-recovery system, where the herbicide is sprayed above the level of the cultivated crop, to contact the portions of weeds which have grown higher than the crop, and the excess sprayed weed killer is collected in a recovery receptacle and is recycled back to the sprayer. While such a system and technique is satisfactory, and applies the weed killer primarily to the weeds without application to the cultivated crop, the equipment is quite expensive, and clogging of the recirculation system sometimes occurs, especially under dusty conditions.
Correspondingly, there is a need for an inexpensive, durable, and reliable apparatus for applying chemicals to field crops. This invention provides such an apparatus, as well as a unique method of applying chemicals to plants with the apparatus.